Checking In

Just popping in to respond to comments on my quizzes and blogs; then I'm off again.

I won't be commenting on anyone else's quizzes. Just my own. If the 452 notifications I've got are any indication, I'm sure that will keep me busy enough for the next few hours. Also... it seemed like when I commented on my own quizzes those comments were significantly less likely to be deleted by moderators.

If it wasn't already clear from my last blog (I know, I was being vague)... this is the reason I left. Not because of any specific thing that was deleted or because I thought specific viewpoints were being censored or anything like that... but... it had started to become routine that I would see the quizzes uploaded to the front page at midnight. I'd take a look at the quiz and the comments, and often see some old comments I had left years ago... frequently that had generated some good conversation. Nothing offensive. Nothing inflammatory. Perfectly fine comments that had been up for literally years and hadn't hurt anyone.

Then I'd come back later in the day and look at the quizzes again, scroll down to see if there were any new replies... and... my comments would be gone. All the others from other users that were just as old would still appear... mine were obviously being targeted specifically. For literally no good reason. This wasn't random. And it wasn't justified. It was punitive. Some kind of pissy shadow banning bullshit.

I don't know why. I have some guesses. But I won't get into them. The site admins are aware of my feelings on moderation policy; they've chosen to go their own way on this. If the moderation staff weren't acting like cowards, or just being petty, they could say something to me directly about this and I wouldn't have to speculate. But I'm not going to speculate publicly. I liked this site a lot. I used to come here damn near every day for over a decade. I felt like I contributed a good amount to it. So... whatever... not going to piss on the site or its owners even if I would have done things differently. The end result is that I was made to feel unwelcome. Which may have been intentional or may have not. But that doesn't matter. I'm not the kind to stick around at a party where the host is giving me the stink eye but too averse to confrontation to just approach and ask me to leave.